Menu

Pictures of Hollis Woods

Hello all- Been reading a bit this summer to be ready for my switch to teach 5th grade in the fall– and I found a book I’m looking forward to sharing with my students. In Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff, you are pulled in to the story of Holly, a young girl who has moved into and subsequently run away from a series of foster homes, all the while hoping to find a real family she can fit into and love.

Her summer with the Regans is nearly perfect until the accident and then she is on the run again. Her next home with Josie is precarious, given Josie’s increasing dementia. And so the story totters back and forth between life with Josie and remembrances of the summer past, until the two stories come together in a satisfyingly heartwarming ending. It’s a story of hope and desperation, a story of family, a story of characters you’d like to spend some time with. This is a Newberry Honor book and I do think you’d find it worthwhile.

Post navigation

2 thoughts on “Pictures of Hollis Woods”

I enjoy reading your book reviews. You do a great job of telling us so much more than just what the book is about. When do you start the school year? My daughter is a high school teacher and she starts tomorrow! (her blog is sunshineincloudsofgrey.wordpress.com) I pray you’ll have a fantastic school year! 🙂

Hey Daisy– School doesn’t start til the 3rd of September for us. But I’ve been in my new classroom, beavering away getting it ready for a fresh crop of 5th graders. Fun to organize and anticipate. And thanks for the link to your daughters blog. Loved her post on starting school… I would have liked to have had her for a teacher.